W3 Theory - Peter Leaman

[W3Theory || Peter]

I haven't worked with Peter personally, but I am a hosting customer of W3 Theory and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I've only been hosted there for about a month and right now my site has been down for a few hours and it's not the first time this has happened in the short time I've been with them. I can only imagine how upset my players are. There would normally be about 10-15 people online right now. He was quick to respond to a support ticket I had before I signed up, but the support ticket I filed while a customer took a lot longer to get a response (over a week I think). He does offer cheap hosting that allows some of the things that other hosts don't allow on shared hosting accounts (1 minute crons for example), but there are some negatives to hosting there.

I have just found out that the reason of it being down is actually due to your site in particular. A particular file is producing a high amount of CPU overload on the server and I have taken your site down due to the possibility of harming any other clients on my server. I don't see any of your support tickets in my support line to be answer so not sure about that. If you want to discuss this any further please add me on msn at [email protected]

Thanks.

[JordanD]

Oops. :eek:

[Smokey]

Hmm, well...where to begin...

I have hosting through Peter, which I have no problems with really, though the server (all of w3theory not just my site) has went down a couple of times, but never for long except one instance, in which clients were given a couple months free hosting to make up for it, kudos for that. It was an exceptional move on your part and is appreciated.

Now that being said, I also bought a layout from Peter for $200, which I was not totally satisfied with, it was a plain bare bones layout definitely not worth what I paid for it, not even half what I paid if you ask me. Now i do have to admit it is my OWN fault because I did accept the layout as it was shown to me, BUT it was a rushed job, done in one night ( i was talking to him as he made it in a couple of hours) and could have been much better. Being a new game owner I did not realize just how dull it was going to look once installed. Also I was in a hurry to get it done as I had waited a week before it was started, again, my own fault for not taking the time and paying more attention. When I expressed my concerns about it once it was installed and i could see it for what it was worth, I was pretty much told "thats what you asked for so thats what you're going to get", BUT Peter did install it for me, and then came to my site to fix several errors that the layout caused. Also with this layout, things i add have to have a lot more work done on them due to the layout. Like tables, there is no table class so all tables have to be constructed in line from scratch, also the endpage(); function must be used on every single file or the bottom of the content box will get cut off.

As you can see I'm pretty much on a fence, but i guess i would have to say i WOULD buy another one (and will once my 2nd project is ready for it) because I'm sure this was an isolated event, BUT i will make sure its exactly what i want in detail beforehand.

Ok, I have to add this, Peter is the man! My site was "hacked" I use the term loosely as someone somehow changed my cpanel login details and put up a hacker suspension page, and Peter got out of bed and fixed it at 4 am, not many hosts would do that and I applaud him for it. Again, Peter, you are the man.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Smokey

[shyuan]

I have seen one/two of your designs from somewhere in the forum. I was so impressed with them. Really hope you can do me a design for my site. Thanks :)

[KyleMassacre]

I would totally recommend Peter. He made a pretty sick ingame for me and I love it. He kept me posted on everything he did and even put it up online for me to watch the progress as he goes. Im mos def going to add him to my very short list of people to return to for business

[dnenb]

Just got a design from Peter I'm very happy with. Took him a single day :)

Edited August 5, 2012 by dnenb
typo

[Razor42]

I'd reccomend Peter to anyone, I have bought 2 designs from Peter now and his work is amazing, he takes your every little idea and creates the perfect template for you, he also keeps you updated through the making and will change anything that you need and will get the templates done in good time also. His work is deffinatly worth the money in my opinion and I wouldn't go to anyone else!.

[newttster]

It has been a very long time since I've posted anything on MWG, so I apologize for reviving a long dead thread.

I honestly admit that I have always enjoyed working with Peter (see post # 24), but now I find myself in a real jam.

On Friday (5th) I received emails from some of my players telling me that they weren't able to get into my game. Due to circumstances I was not able to get online until Saturday, and lo and behold I'm not able to access anything. Nothing. Not my game, not the cpanel, not the second game I'm working on. Nothing. I call Peter on Saturday to let him know that there seems to be an issue and could he fix the problem. He asked me to send to him on Skype what the problem was. I did so. He tells me that oh yes .. I see the problem, the server you are on needs to be updated. Awesome! He told me he would let me know when the problem was taken care of. Great! I've never had an issue before that he hasn't fixed pretty much immediately.

Well ... here it is Wednesday and still no joy. I've left him a few voice mails, some posts on Skype and he still isn't answering me. I've done what checking I can to try and get to the bottom of this but it appears that even all of his stuff is offline as well now. I have no idea what to do now. Everything I had was hosted with him. All my files ... gone. All the css files gone. Which by the way Peter did for me and I was extremely satisfied with. I still have some of the files saved as I was working on them, though certainly not even close to what there is needed to migrate them somewhere else .. .which seems to be about my only recourse at this time.

I will readily admit that part of this is my fault for not keeping my own backups on my laptop, but when backups were being done on the server, I suppose I got lazy and didn't do this. I really would not have a problem with this if it weren't for the fact that my game was still making money. It wasn't a lot of money by any means but it was some.

My questions are;

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

What options I have available to me?

What the hell do I do now?

Any suggestions/feedback/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[SRB]

It has been a very long time since I've posted anything on MWG, so I apologize for reviving a long dead thread.

I honestly admit that I have always enjoyed working with Peter (see post # 24), but now I find myself in a real jam.

On Friday (5th) I received emails from some of my players telling me that they weren't able to get into my game. Due to circumstances I was not able to get online until Saturday, and lo and behold I'm not able to access anything. Nothing. Not my game, not the cpanel, not the second game I'm working on. Nothing. I call Peter on Saturday to let him know that there seems to be an issue and could he fix the problem. He asked me to send to him on Skype what the problem was. I did so. He tells me that oh yes .. I see the problem, the server you are on needs to be updated. Awesome! He told me he would let me know when the problem was taken care of. Great! I've never had an issue before that he hasn't fixed pretty much immediately.

Well ... here it is Wednesday and still no joy. I've left him a few voice mails, some posts on Skype and he still isn't answering me. I've done what checking I can to try and get to the bottom of this but it appears that even all of his stuff is offline as well now. I have no idea what to do now. Everything I had was hosted with him. All my files ... gone. All the css files gone. Which by the way Peter did for me and I was extremely satisfied with. I still have some of the files saved as I was working on them, though certainly not even close to what there is needed to migrate them somewhere else .. .which seems to be about my only recourse at this time.

I will readily admit that part of this is my fault for not keeping my own backups on my laptop, but when backups were being done on the server, I suppose I got lazy and didn't do this. I really would not have a problem with this if it weren't for the fact that my game was still making money. It wasn't a lot of money by any means but it was some.

My questions are;

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

What options I have available to me?

What the hell do I do now?

Any suggestions/feedback/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

 

No offence (or you can take it if you like), but since when was hosting with an amateur appealing over getting hosting with a professional?

No offence (or he can take it if he likes), but Peter is no AWS, DO etc. He has no dedicated development teams working on server builds, backup systems and replications etc.

And if it was "cheap", I think you've just found the true cost of cheap.

Given you have no complete backup, you are kind of screwed unless you can somehow get Peter to get your data for you, but since he has gone into MIA mode, I am going to say he probably knows that ain't happening, so you sir, be fuxt.

[sniko]

It has been a very long time since I've posted anything on MWG, so I apologize for reviving a long dead thread.

I honestly admit that I have always enjoyed working with Peter (see post # 24), but now I find myself in a real jam.

On Friday (5th) I received emails from some of my players telling me that they weren't able to get into my game. Due to circumstances I was not able to get online until Saturday, and lo and behold I'm not able to access anything. Nothing. Not my game, not the cpanel, not the second game I'm working on. Nothing. I call Peter on Saturday to let him know that there seems to be an issue and could he fix the problem. He asked me to send to him on Skype what the problem was. I did so. He tells me that oh yes .. I see the problem, the server you are on needs to be updated. Awesome! He told me he would let me know when the problem was taken care of. Great! I've never had an issue before that he hasn't fixed pretty much immediately.

Well ... here it is Wednesday and still no joy. I've left him a few voice mails, some posts on Skype and he still isn't answering me. I've done what checking I can to try and get to the bottom of this but it appears that even all of his stuff is offline as well now. I have no idea what to do now. Everything I had was hosted with him. All my files ... gone. All the css files gone. Which by the way Peter did for me and I was extremely satisfied with. I still have some of the files saved as I was working on them, though certainly not even close to what there is needed to migrate them somewhere else .. .which seems to be about my only recourse at this time.

I will readily admit that part of this is my fault for not keeping my own backups on my laptop, but when backups were being done on the server, I suppose I got lazy and didn't do this. I really would not have a problem with this if it weren't for the fact that my game was still making money. It wasn't a lot of money by any means but it was some.

My questions are;

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

What options I have available to me?

What the hell do I do now?

Any suggestions/feedback/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

 

You could look at your signature for advice on what to do ;) Life is not about surviving the storm. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Real talk: perhaps only some ports are closed, and (for example), the FTP port (21) may still be open. Assuming the server hasn't completely died and you have an FTP user, you could recover that way. Also, if you put your files through version control (either locally, or via a centralised server (ie: GitHub)), you could recover them that way.

[newttster]

@ Guest ... You're absolutely right. I think I'm fuxt. I "should" have known better. The thing is though ... I've been hosting with him now for close to 4 years, something like that, and never had a problem. Obviously, given recent events, never having had a problem doesn't mean there won't be.

@ Sniko ... Those are wonderful suggestions, and I'm not being sarcastic, I truly think they are. The big problem is I haven't a clue on where to do any of what you've said.

I have been looking into getting shared hosting for the short term, though the likelihood of them offering crons is unlikely. I have found in some of my old files that I do have "cronless crons" which may be the way for me to go short term which would negate a hosting site allowing for crons.

I guess overall, I can't blame anyone but myself for being lazy about the backups etc. It's just extremely annoying that after this length of time, that Peter has no problem doing this to someone. At the very least, he could respond and apologize and give some reason as to why this has happened, even if it's a crap reason .. it would still be a reason.

Once I do find a host ... would either of you like to make a little green on the side for helping me to get McCodes set up so that I can at least install the files that I do have so that I can work from there.

I'm also going to need someone to do some graphics and css files as well.

Thanks for your responses, gentlemen.

[Dayo]

what was your IP/Domain name i can see if there are any ports open

[sniko]

@ Guest ... You're absolutely right. I think I'm fuxt. I "should" have known better. The thing is though ... I've been hosting with him now for close to 4 years, something like that, and never had a problem. Obviously, given recent events, never having had a problem doesn't mean there won't be.

@ Sniko ... Those are wonderful suggestions, and I'm not being sarcastic, I truly think they are. The big problem is I haven't a clue on where to do any of what you've said.

I have been looking into getting shared hosting for the short term, though the likelihood of them offering crons is unlikely. I have found in some of my old files that I do have "cronless crons" which may be the way for me to go short term which would negate a hosting site allowing for crons.

I guess overall, I can't blame anyone but myself for being lazy about the backups etc. It's just extremely annoying that after this length of time, that Peter has no problem doing this to someone. At the very least, he could respond and apologize and give some reason as to why this has happened, even if it's a crap reason .. it would still be a reason.

Once I do find a host ... would either of you like to make a little green on the side for helping me to get McCodes set up so that I can at least install the files that I do have so that I can work from there.

I'm also going to need someone to do some graphics and css files as well.

Thanks for your responses, gentlemen.

 

Just run an nmap scan on the server IP and see if there are any ports open. If there is, and you can run shell commands, there is a good chance we *might* be able to check the mysqld service is running, then extracting your database from it.

As for the server, go to DigitalOcean, get a VPS (I will help you get set up with it), it's $5usd a month, you manage it yourself, a professional team managing the hardware for you - it'll handle the standard load of a 2016 mccodes game.

Hit me up via e-mail if you need any help with anything. I've recently got some more time and I'm looking for work.

[SRB]

would either of you like to make a little green on the side for helping me to get McCodes set up so that I can at least install the files that I do have so that I can work from there.

As much as I like money, I prefer to have a life these days - mainly because I look at far too much code every day at work, so generally avoid it in my spare time. As Sniko has time and is offering it, even though he is a n00b (>.<) , I'd take the offer

[newttster]

Thank you, gentlemen.

@ Dayo ... thank you for the offer.

@ Guest ... It's good that you are keeping busy! Bad for me in the sense that you have done work for me before and I was very happy with your work.

@ Sniko ... I've pm'ed you and also added you to skype and look forward to working with you. :D

[SRB]

As a side note; this thread made me remember I was supposed to build a backup script for one of my DO droplets.

Never wrote a BASH script before, but just built one to zip up all files and databases (8 domains within that droplet), then push them to S3, automatically each day.

Surprisingly very easy (and stupidly fast) - when you're up and running, give me a shout :)

[Coly010]

As a side note; this thread made me remember I was supposed to build a backup script for one of my DO droplets.

Never wrote a BASH script before, but just built one to zip up all files and databases (8 domains within that droplet), then push them to S3, automatically each day.

Surprisingly very easy (and stupidly fast) - when you're up and running, give me a shout :)

 

wanna open source that code?

[SRB]

 

wanna open source that code?

 

I may throw it in bitbucket when it's done - while it works, I know it can be shortened, so I'm working on that first.

It's moved a couple slots down my priority list at this instance though, since I technically have a working backup script, so no longer priority.

[SwiftGameR]

On 7/29/2011 at 2:24 PM, W3Theory || Peter said:

Hello everyone,

I would like to try and gather up ideas/thoughts on how people perceive me and how I handled working with them if they were a client of mine. This is due to a thread already made for me, all due to confusion and misunderstanding and could give a misunderstanding on how I tend to think I do business.

So I would like to have any past clients or people who have dealt with me to post their thoughts and experience.

This is a way I can practice/fix on the negativity people post and help build a better reputation.

Plus anything from that previous thread should not be posted on here as that is already stated. I am looking for new and current views.

Thank you

Peter Leaman

I never had any issues with you up until i paid you for that design but you never delivered the project i went by the name NonstopCoding at the time. never got a refund either because stupid me sent it as a gift.